Kodak No. 4 Cartridge Kodak (1897–1907)
The No. 4 Cartridge Kodak was the first model of the Cartridge Kodak camera range, and by all accounts the most successful of that line. Introduced in 1897 as "A new and daylight loading 4 x 5 inch folding camera," it arrived just as daylight-loading film was making the older darkroom-loaded spool cameras obsolete. More than 90,000 were produced from 1897 to 1907.
It's a folding rollfilm camera making 4×5-inch exposures on No. 104 rollfilm. The body is leather-covered wood, and the bellows are red or wine-red depending on the example. The lens is a Bausch & Lomb Rapid Rectilinear (US4 - US128), paired with an Eastman Triple-Action Pneumatic shutter with T, B, and I settings. A rack-and-pinion focus covers distances from 6 to 100 feet. The camera also has sliding rising and cross front movements, and two brilliant reflecting finders for composition. The lens panel was made of wood from 1897 until November 1900, after which it appears to have changed. One period-oriented source says the camera has "some settings that are of no use for the snapshooter, like horizontal and vertical shift of the lensboard," yet it can also be very well used for snapshots. It suited the advanced amateur photographer. The original price was $25.00.
The Science Museum Group Collection holds a Model E example (serial No. 2437) dated 1900-1903. It's described as a rollfilm camera with an Eastman triple action shutter B/I/T, adjustable speed S-F, and a Bausch and Lomb rapid rectilinear lens US 4-128. That example includes its instruction book. A Model F example, offered at auction with an artist-applied teak wood veneer covering, carried an estimate of £250 - £350 but went unsold. The pneumatic release on these cameras is prone to perishing with age, and surviving examples show the expected wear to grips and coverings. The record is thin otherwise. No weight or dimensions have surfaced, and there is no detailed documentation of what distinguished the later "improved" Model E from the earliest examples.
- Format: 4×5 inches on No. 104 rollfilm
- Lens: Bausch & Lomb Rapid Rectilinear, US4–US128
- Shutter: Eastman Triple-Action Pneumatic, T/B/I
- Focus: Rack and pinion, 6–100 ft
- Movements: Rising, cross, and sliding front
- Introduced 1897 at $25.00; produced through 1907
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